Irish presidential candidate Sean Gallagher, a self-proclaimed independent despite his apparently long running Fianna Fáil pedigree, looks set at press time to succeed Mary McAleese as ninth president of Ireland.
Nothing is set in stone of course as opinion polls can get it wrong, and indeed the system of transfer voting could give a second or third placed candidate an on-the-day chance after the first preference votes are distributed.
But as the Irish Examiner reported on Monday of this week, The Ipsos MRBI-Irish Times poll, published Sunday night, showed Mr. Gallagher on 40 percent compared with 25 percent for his nearest challenger Michael D Higgins.
The Red C-Sunday Business Post poll also showed Gallagher on 40 percent with Higgins on 26 percent. The Behavior & Attitudes/Sunday Times poll showed Gallagher on 38 percent compared with 26 percent for Higgins.
The paper pointed out that the B&A poll was taken on Monday and Tuesday of last week, before new revelations emerged about Gallagher's Fianna Fáil links and business dealings.
But, as the report stressed, the other two polls were taken later in the week, with the Ipsos MRBI poll being conducted on Thursday and Friday "when the scrutiny of both issues was at its height."
The report concluded that the findings "seem to indicate that neither issue has affected Mr. Gallagher's support."
No matter which way you cut it, Gallagher's lead appear to be decisive, if not insurmountable. Few would have envisaged such a state of affairs in the earlier stages of the campaign, indeed at any point up until the last couple of weeks or so.
But before looking ahead to the outcome of Thursday's vote, a vote which, as per usual, Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland and overseas are prevented from participating in, we would pause for a moment to consider the presidency of Mary McAleese, a woman whose initial candidacy back in 1997 raised some eyebrows - she was, for example, too conservative a Catholic in the eyes of some - and whose abilities to do the job were openly questioned in the context of Mary Robinson's ground breaking work as president.
Well, Mary McAleese surprised us and then some. It would be no ill reflection on any of her predecessors to say that McAleese raised the profile of the Irish presidency to new heights. Her confidence, flair and erudition, no matter where in the world it was on display, made the Irish feel that extra bit proud of their island homeland. This was no less the case during McAleese's multiple visits to the United States.
McAleese was, in short, someone you wanted to have out there in the public spotlight on your behalf, no matter what the event or issue.
The McAleese presidency was for sure replete with symbolism. She was from Belfast, unable to vote for herself in her first run for office, but clearly intent on broadening the concept of the Irish presidency by making use of her literal outsider status from the very fist days.
When McAleese traveled north of the border she could never be described as a foreigner by even the most hard set of unionists. The potential for any such branding also diminished with the Good Friday Agreement, which was achieved early in her first seven-year term.
Martin McGuinness, early during his campaign for the presidency, sought to present himself as one who would be a president, whether constitutionally or symbolically, for all the people of the island of Ireland. But, in truth, Mary McAleese had already attained such status, as indeed did Mary Robinson to a degree that could not be ascribed to her predecessors.
It's fair to say that the crowning moment, no pun intended, for the McAleese presidency was the visit earlier this year of Queen Elizabeth to the Republic. The long term political and diplomatic benefits from the visit will lonely become clearer over time.
So putting aside the result that will emerge from this week's vote for a new president, it is fitting that we first wish very best for the future to the departing president, Mary McAleese. She was, quite simply, a class act.
